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White Bean and Escarole Soup

White bean and escarole soup with chorizo is a hearty, one pot meal. Only 7 ingredients, big flavors, and just enough spice. Well, everyone, it’s happened: I’m the one with a colicky baby. Deep down, I always thought that it would never be me. I had assumed that people with fussy babies were doing something wrong–what, of course, I couldn’t tell you, but I knew that, as a pediatrician, I would never make those mistakes. Wrong wrong wrong. So wrong. I apologize, people of the world, who I wrongfully judged. My baby, sadly, is one of those fussy babies, and it’s so much harder to manage than I had ever imagined.

What does this fussy (and simultaneously amazing and adorable) baby mean for my cooking? I’ve actually been able to spend a lot of time cooking, since I can wear her in a baby carrier while doing it. However, my photography and blogging have suffered. It turns out that my fussy baby does NOT like to sit on the couch with me while I type. I have all these great recipes to share with you, but can’t seem to get to the computer to make it happen. Until now, that is. My lovely husband is downstairs, bouncing around my bundle of joy while watching football, and I’m reclining on my bed, rewatching Downton Abbey for the 5th (or 10th) time, typing away. We all need a little break now and then, and this is my break.

One of the great meals I’ve made a few times in the last month of baby fussiness was this hearty soup. Yeah, yeah, I love soup, I make soups all winter long, I know. I post tons of soups. But it’s so good! I have to share it. I don’t use much chorizo (though seem to always post when I do), but chorizo works so well in this recipe, imparting a garlicky spice into the soup. I also love any excuse to add leafy greens into whatever I’m cooking, and escarole is something fairly new to me; while it seems bitter when raw, it mellows out when cooked, complementing the chorizo and white beans quite nicely (though I’m sure kale would work well here, also). The white beans, are…well…white beans. What’s not to like? They’re creamy and mild, taking on the rest of the soup’s flavors. Yummy. If that doesn’t convince you to make this soup, here are some promises I can make:

This soup is delicious.

It’s hearty, and could definitely be served as lunch or dinner.

It has only 7 ingredients if you don’t count water, salt, and pepper (which you shouldn’t, because we all have them).

It’s pretty budget friendly.

And finally: this soup can be made while wearing a baby in a baby carrier. True story.

Make sure you brown the chorizo well, as it is in this step that so much of the flavors develop.

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